Olivia De Havilland

Actor

Born: 1 July 1916

Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan

Best known as:

Melanie in Gone With the Wind

Olivia de Havilland started in the movies when she was a teenager, appearing as the romantic leading lady in such costumers as 1935's Captain Blood and 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood (both with her frequent co-star, Errol Flynn). Early on she had one of her most memorable roles, as Melanie Hamilton in 1939's Gone With The Wind (with Clark Gable). Spirited and darkly handsome, she won an Oscar in 1946 for To Each His Own, and another in 1949 for The Heiress (opposite Montgomery Clift). She married Pierre Galante, the editor of Paris Match, and moved to Europe in 1955, continuing to act in films and on TV. Her last screen appearance was the TV movie The Woman He Loved in 1988 (she played Aunt Bessie Merryman); since then she has lived in retirement in Paris.

Extra credit:

Her younger sister was actress Joan Fontaine. The two sisters had a famously rocky relationship, which wasn't helped when Fontaine won the best actress Oscar for 1941 (for Suspicion) the same year that de Havilland was nominated for Hold Back the Dawn. Fontaine died in 2013.